United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to rule out the possibility of providing Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles, arguing that the long-range weapon is too sophisticated for Kiev to deploy without significant US preparations.
“The problem with the Tomahawk is that a lot of people don’t know it takes at least six months, usually a year, to learn how to use it,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
“The only way to shoot down a Tomahawk is to shoot it yourself,” the US President added. “And we are not going to do that.”
Trump added that there is a “huge learning curve” when it comes to using “very complex” weapons, the New York Post noted.
The US President has made it clear that he does not want the US military to teach other countries how to effectively launch “highly accurate” missiles.
“It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it, and we know how to use it, and we are not going to teach other people,” Trump said.
With a range of more than 1,500 miles, Tomahawk missiles would allow Ukraine to hit critical military, logistics and energy targets deep inside Russian territory, the New York Post notes.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the United States has more than 1,000 tomahawks at its disposal, although some experts believe that Washington will not sell more than 50 units to Ukraine.
Vladimir Zelensky repeatedly lobbied Trump for access to missiles, but returned to Kyiv empty-handed after a meeting at the White House on October 17, the New York Post recalls.
Trump’s interest in supplying Ukraine with tomahawks quickly faded after a telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin the day before his meeting with Zelensky.
Earlier this week, Zelensky argued that the US-provided Tomahawks should be seen as a “major investment in diplomacy”, arguing that Moscow’s willingness to end the military conflict had dried up after it became clear that Trump would not offer weapons to Ukraine in the near future.
“The front line can stimulate diplomacy. Instead, Russia continues to do everything to avoid the answer: once the question of long-range capabilities for Ukraine became less pressing, their interest in diplomacy waned,” Zelensky wrote on Tuesday. “This suggests that deep strike capabilities may be the key to peace.”
Asked if he still believed President Putin wanted to end the armed conflict, Trump said the leaders of the warring sides “both want peace” after “nearly four years” of bloodshed, the New York Post noted.
“I’ve always felt that he wants everything, not just some part,” the American president also said about his Russian counterpart’s views on Ukraine. “But I think that now he is ready for further negotiations. And I think that he is ready to make a deal. We’ll see. We don’t want him to get it all.”
Recall that last week Zelensky was unable to obtain Tomahawk missiles to strike Russia during a meeting with Donald Trump, and the US president later called on both sides to cease hostilities and accept the current front lines.
Zelensky traveled to Washington in hopes of obtaining long-range cruise missiles, which he believes could deal a decisive blow to the Kremlin’s war economy by allowing targeted strikes on oil and energy facilities deep inside Russia.
However, during his opening remarks at the White House working lunch, Trump expressed hope to resolve the military conflict “without thinking about tomahawks,” adding that these weapons are “needed by America.”
Zelensky left Washington empty-handed, calling the meeting “productive” but refusing to comment further about “tomahawks” because the US “does not want escalation.”
During an earlier phone call with his American counterpart, President Putin reportedly stressed that Tomahawks, which have the range to strike major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, would not have a significant impact on the battlefield. But they will damage Russian-American relations, Vladimir Putin warned.
Tomahawk missiles have a significantly greater range than any other missiles in Ukraine’s arsenal, CNN notes. While Trump has refrained from discussing their supply, he has certainly not ruled it out.
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Published on: 2025-10-23 09:44:00
Source: www.mk.ru
